Creators Podcast
Porsche 917
Episode #14
12.30.24
Full Podcast Episode Transcript
Creating the Porsche 917
You can learn a lot by studying the greatest race cars ever created. When art and science come together, beautiful design and brilliant engineering.
Power and beauty. Speed and grace.
But during my week-long study of the Porsche 917, I was surprised to find out that iteration was the key. The development of one of the greatest race cars to ever hit the track was a grueling process that was literally “pounded out” right there on the side of the test track.
Trial and error, over and over again. From the track, back into the shop. The constant iteration to make the fastest car ever built even better than ever. It’s funny, but sometimes I just assume a great car was designed to perfection from the very start. The amazing story of the Porsche 917 reminded me that only through trial and error, with a mindset on constant improvement, iteration was the key to the Porsche 917.
The Amazing Book on the Porsche 917
So I had an absolute blast creating this podcast episode on the amazing Porsche 917. And in the process of my deep-dive into the amazing machine, I found an incredible book on the subject.
The book is titled, ‘Porsche 917, The Winning Formula,’ by author Peter Morgan.
It’s the complete history of the Porsche 917, and the whole story that took the author more than two years to research. Peter Morgan features interviews directly from the drivers, engineers, and principles – the creators of this amazing car story.
Built for Le Mans
I began the episode, as I usually do, with the key statement. The big moment that shows exactly what this car is all about. The quote I read from Peter Morgan’s book at the beginning of my episode says the Porsche 917 was built for one purpose in mind – to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The second key takeaway to remember about the Porsche 917 is that it was the, ‘second generation,’ that set track records, and just like Peter Morgan says it in his book, “wrote a new chapter in the pursuit of maximum speed… becoming simply the fastest racing car of its time.”
So how did the pieces come together? Who were the forces behind the creation of such a vehicle? My podcast episode dives straight into the story, and it was a blast telling this story.
Teamwork and Dedication
I’ve already said the Porsche 917 was a story about iteration – trial and error. And we’ll talk all about that in just a minute. But it was also a story about teamwork and dedication.
The insanely competitive race teams somehow banded together for a common goal. Something that sounds much easier than it actually is in real life. Racing is full of egos, and ultra competitive personalities. But somehow the teams from Porsche found a way to execute a plan even when the will to win at all costs was almost running out of control.
So, who was the driving force behind this effort? You can probably guess there’s a very headstrong and strong-willed individual pulling the strings behind this story. And you would be 100% correct. There sure was.
Ferdinand Piech and the Porsche 917
Before we get to far into the story, I have to introduce the guy who’s heading up this entire endeavor. None other than the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the company, a young man by the name of Ferdinand Piech.
Peter Morgan describes Ferdinand Piech as an energetic individual who knew the Porsche car company inside and out. He was extremely driven to take over the entire company, and see all of his visions come true. Piech was a born achiever, like the book says, and, “would not accept that there were limitations to anything in life.”
Now you can start to get the picture about this guy, Piech. He was a force of nature. Not only that, but one of his goals was to build a racecar that would finally bring Porsche a victory at the 24 hours of Le Mans. Something the car company had yet to achieve.
Ford Vs. Ferrari
It was the 1960s, and Le Mans was in the middle of the Ford Vs. Ferrari wars. The iconic Ford GT40s trading blows with the iconic Ferrari teams. Back and forth, the rival raged on the track, but Porsche was mostly left in the dust by these two frontrunners.
Piech was determined to change history. So in a brilliant move, Ferdinand Piech spotted an opportunity that nobody else saw, or at least, nobody else was quick enough to capitalize on.
Porsche and the 5 Litre Class
One of the most amazing parts of this story is how Porsche decided to build the car from the very beginning. They found a loophole in the racing rulebook, and exploited it to the very limits.
So the rules limited engine capacity to just 3 liters, but this was for prototype cars only. Another part of the rulebook stated that the engine capacity for sports cars could go as high as 5 liters.
But what was considered a sports car? The new rules stated that in order to qualify in the sports car division and compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a car manufacture had to build at least 50 cars to be sold to customers.
This would be a very expensive endeavor, and one that would scare away any crazy and over-the-top designs. But then the limit was quickly dropped to just 25 cars. Now, making it possible to get very creative with a super-powerful car, and build 25 vehicles to qualify as a sports car.
That’s exactly what Porsche did. They designed a monster of a race car, with a giant V-12 engine. Then they had to actually build 25 cars to the exact same specifications. So they did that too, and in record time. Now they were prepared to enter a few of these new Porsche 917s into the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1969.
24 Hours of Le Mans
The first attempt to win Le Mans with their new supercar didn’t go very well for Porsche.
Of the three Porsche 917s entered in the race, none of them even finished. The first car crashed on the very first lap of the race, and burst into flames. Unfortunately, the driver of the car, John Woolfe, was killed in the crash.
The second 917 dropped out from an oil leak, and the third car was actually in the lead my a wide margin before it blew it’s transmission in the 21st hour and had to retire.
So Porsche had a super-powerful car, but they had a big problem. The car was unstable at high speeds, and some of the drivers were very nervous about even attempting to get behind the wheel.
Piech Recruits John Wyer
So we already mentioned Ferdinand Piech was a force of nature, and would not allow failure as an option. The 1969 Le Mans race didn’t go as planned, so Piech had to make his next move. What was he going to do?
He went out and recruited the best racing team manager he could find. And Englishman named John Wyer.
John Wyer
So what’s the deal with this guy, John Wyer? Why would Ferdinand Piech need his services if he already had the most powerful car in the world at the time?
It turns out, John Wyer already had several victories at Le Mans. He knew exactly what it took to win the biggest race in the world because he already did it with multiple different teams.
He led the team that won for David Brown and Aston Martin in 1959 with the DBR1. What many still to this day consider Aston Martin’s “finest hour.”
Then, John Wyer goes to Ford to take on Ferrari in the Ford Vs. Ferrari wars of the 1960s. Next, he created his own racing team, JW Automotive Engineering, and won Le Mans in 1968 and 1969 with the Ford GT40s.
Now you might be thinking, why would John Wyer want anything to do with Porsche? He seems to be doing just fine on his own. Well, it turns out, John Wyer had his eye on Porsche, and respected what they were doing the the 917. He saw how they exploited the rulebook, and admired the guts it took to build 25 cars and qualify under the “Sports Car” division.
John Wyer and Ferdinand Piech quickly struck up a deal, and now Wyer had his new team for the 1970 season, the Gulf-Porsche team.
The Porsche Salzburg Team
Now we know that John Wyer and Ferdinand Piech are both locked into their new goal to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in the upcoming 1970 racing season.
But there’s one curve ball Perdinand Piech has up his sleeve. Piech was not about to turn over all his hopes and dreams of winning Le Mans to one man, John Wyer.
Piech very quietly created another Porsche 917 team called Porsche Salzburg. This was an in-house Porsche racing team that would compete directly against John Wyer’s Gulf-Porsche team.
Piech didn’t want any other person take the credit for success, or have too much control over the 917 race cars, even if it was the great John Wyer. This endeavor was all about Porsche, the company, and Piech was part of that company, and part of the founding family. So Piech would put the Salzburg 917 race team up against John Wyers team with a “friendly” rivalry.
The 24-Hours of Daytona in 1970
And we get to see this all begin to play out during the very first big race of the season, the 1970 24-Hours of Daytona race.
John Wyer’s Gulf-Porsche team would square off against the Porsche Salzburg team, both running the exact same 917 racecars.
Victory at Daytona
So John Wyer’s team would crush the competition at the 24-Hours of Daytona in 1970. The Gulf-Porsche 917K models would take first and second place, and shattered the track record by 190 miles!
The Porsche Salzburg team wasn’t able to finish the race, having suffered a gas tank malfunction… but it was officially on for the two Porsche 917 teams.
And now the biggest race of the year was only a few months away, the 24-Hours of Daytona.
Finding the Perfect Balance for the Porsche 917
We now have to remember that it was the second generation Porsche 917 that would dominate the track. The 917 “K” model. So what exactly is going on here? What happened to the original 917 design?
We have to remember the 1969 Le Mans race did not go as planned for Porsche. Drivers weren’t even sure they wanted to climb into the 917 Porsche in 1969. It was just too dangerous and unstable. Especially at high speeds.
So how did Porsche go from the first unstable, and downright dangerous car in 1969, to smashing records at the 24-Hours of Daytona in 1970? What happened?
The 3-Day Zeltweg Test Session
In October of 1969, John Wyer scheduled a 3-day test session at Zeltweg, a track in Austria.
During this three day session, the two Porsche 917 race teams came together, and ended up solving a few crucial problems in the initial car design.
With every option on the table, the teams realized they needed to find a way to keep the rear of the car down on the road. There was not enough downforce at the rear spoiler.
The test engineers realized the air flowing over the car was not hitting the spoiler. They discovered the front of the car was covered in bugs, but there were visibly no smashed bugs on the rear spoiler because the air was just simply blowing right over the top of the car.